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Screw the NHL

Im an old man whose patience has reached its end. 3 stoppages during
Betmanns reign is enough. They have no respect for the fans whats so ever.
They pay lip service, the the operating philosophy is screw the fans .
The fans are the third corner of their triad but we can take them for granted.
I for one will boycott them for the balance of whats left of any season.
Skrew um!!!

So did the players place franchises in these losing cities ?. The owners
of well established teams did . All they wanted was the money.
Now the roosters have come home and those same owners now must pay the piper unless they can get the players to pay for it.
I get it that the players benefit from having these questionable franchises
but its fools paradise until the owners and players recognize that
its in their mutual interest to float these teams, Both sides must pay.
I believe Bettman sold the owners a bill of goods but unless the players cave soon he is between a rock and a hard place.
Look at the track record of Atlanta , 2 franchises , who decided to place teams
where people still sing dixie. Florida Carolina Georgia Arizona the only
fans who go into the rinks are those looking to cool off.

Seriously if you think the players are *more* to blame you have simply not paid any attention to the lockout at all. Like you literally have to be actively paying not one shred of attention to this lockout to say the players are to blame.

The players, at most deserve 10% of the blame. TEN ****ING PERCENT AT MOST.

Players need to realize owners are there to make money not make the players money. Think about it the players are just employees. Now think about us the fans we have jobs are our bosses out to make us rich or themselves?? Sooner players realize this the better owners will wait however long it takes there not hurting the players are.

Players need to realize owners are there to make money not make the players money. Think about it the players are just employees. Now think about us the fans we have jobs are our bosses out to make us rich or themselves?? Sooner players realize this the better owners will wait however long it takes there not hurting the players are.

I hear you about the owners having a right to their own businesses. But within those parameters there are ways of behaving that just flat out alienate your fan base.

Like: frequent lockouts, mismanaging the CBA you got in the last lockout, being disingenuous when signing players this summer to contracts, not wanting to honour contracts, and most of all, playing hardball from the outset. Bettman is certainly guilty of the first and last, while the owners have themselves to blame for the other (mis)conduct I mentioned. Public perception on this is extremely bad and a huge amount of it is squarely directed at Bettman's HANDLING of the negotiations. He is the most unlikeable sports commissioner I've ever seen.

Even BEFORE the lockouts, a lot of us dislike what he has done to the NHL itself.

I hear you about the owners having a right to their own businesses. But within those parameters there are ways of behaving that just flat out alienate your fan base.

There are also ways of behaving that the players/PA/agents have done to alienate fans. People talk a lot about things the owners have done but little is said about the consecutive CBA's that the players negotiated creating favorable negotiating power and loopholes and then exploiting it to get guarenteed contracts that are well beyond what they are worth and then trying to play the hard up every person when there is pushback.

Owners are being hardline in their negotiations just like the players and their agents are every offseason trying to stick it to the owners.

There are also ways of behaving that the players/PA/agents have done to alienate fans. People talk a lot about things the owners have done but little is said about the consecutive CBA's that the players negotiated creating favorable negotiating power and loopholes and then exploiting it to get guarenteed contracts that are well beyond what they are worth and then trying to play the hard up every person when there is pushback.

Owners are being hardline in their negotiations just like the players and their agents are every offseason trying to stick it to the owners.

Oh there's no doubt players (THROUGH AGENTS) are driving up the stakes in all of this with their salary expectations. The problem is that the NHL picked a thoroughly unlikeable little dweeb to hardline the players with. His methods are the problem. I don't really disagree with the goals.

And I would be INFINITELY more sympathetic to the owners if they would stop gouging for tickets and raking in the profits like they do in the huge markets. Places like Toronto and Vancouver are making a killing because they can only spend to the cap AND they charge insane ticket prices at the same time. You'd think that with the cap there would be some self-restraint on the part of teams exploiting fans through ticket prices.

All in all, the owners give the impression that they are really only interested in being exploitive.

Oh there's no doubt players (THROUGH AGENTS) are driving up the stakes in all of this with their salary expectations. The problem is that the NHL picked a thoroughly unlikeable little dweeb to hardline the players with. His methods are the problem. I don't really disagree with the goals.

And I would be INFINITELY more sympathetic to the owners if they would stop gouging for tickets and raking in the profits like they do in the huge markets. Places like Toronto and Vancouver are making a killing because they can only spend to the cap AND they charge insane ticket prices at the same time. You'd think that with the cap there would be some self-restraint on the part of teams exploiting fans through ticket prices.

All in all, the owners give the impression that they are really only interested in being exploitive.

Both sides are only interested in being exploitive. The big difference is that players get days of airtime celebrating and analyzing free agency which is when they are exploiting while ownerships only real chance to play hardball is in CBA negotiations.

Players need to realize owners are there to make money not make the players money. Think about it the players are just employees. Now think about us the fans we have jobs are our bosses out to make us rich or themselves?? Sooner players realize this the better owners will wait however long it takes there not hurting the players are.

Sports are different in that respect than traditional businesses..... In sports the athletes are the product. If they fired all the players and hired a bunch of guys off the street would you watch? Hell no. But McDonald's or Wal-Mart can go out and fire everybody and replace them the next day because the employees are just there to maintain products.

Im an old man whose patience has reached its end. 3 stoppages during
Betmanns reign is enough. They have no respect for the fans whats so ever.
They pay lip service, the the operating philosophy is screw the fans .
The fans are the third corner of their triad but we can take them for granted.
I for one will boycott them for the balance of whats left of any season.
Skrew um!!!

I'm with you. I'm just glad I have the Raptors all season and the Jays seem to be making news every week. I'll keep my season tickets to those teams, but I haven't had Leaf tickets since the last lockout. I will remain a fan, but they will never see a penny from me again, and while I realize the Leafs are in a position that they won't care about losing my money not many teams are in that position.